---
title: But nobody knew, and she didn't know what to do, when a queer little… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But nobody knew, and she didn't know what to do, when a queer little old woman, all bent double, told her where it was, and how she could get to it. Who acts: nobody, girl, queer little old woman, Well. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Well of the World's End, with its depen
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The Well of the World's End, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But nobody knew, and she didn't know what to do, when a queer little old woman, all bent double, told her where it was, and how she could get to it.

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**Who acts:** nobody, girl, queer little old woman, Well · **What happens:** know, not know, do, tell, be, get · **To what, where:** girl, Well · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Well of the World's End. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nobody, girl, queer little old woman, Well), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7439:47:7
# text = But nobody knew, and she didn't know what to do, when a queer little old woman, all bent double, told her where it was, and how she could get to it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
16	queer	queer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
17	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
18	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	_
22	bent	bent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	double	double	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	iobj	_	_
27	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | a queer little old woman |  | girl |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **be** | past | Well |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **get** | could | girl |  | Well |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to it=Result |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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